Tuesday, February 23, 2010

PS 7's serves up superb 7 course special (2-23-10)

We always enjoy going to PS 7's (www.ps7restaurant.com) and last night
was no exception with Chef Peter Smith and Uber mixologist/Sommelieuse
Gina at the helm. We had heard about the 7 course tasting special for
$77 INCLUDING DRINKS per person that is offered and this has to be one
of the best dining deals around.
Be forewarned this menu is not available unless you pre-arrange
directly with the restaurant. Usually, the guests are seated at the
bar, although, we opted for a table since the bar can be a bit noisy.
The menu comes folded over with a wax seal embossed "PS7" setting the
scene for a special evening. Upon opening the menu it is not easy to
decipher, so we simply let Gina and Peter do this for each course.

CAST IRON -celery root, mushroom, sweet potato
was the first course which came after we had already munched on the
always miraculous bread (cottage cheese-dill rolls, bacon biscuits and
focaccia). It was a "Canneloni styled" poached and roasted celery root
with divine mushroom duxelles a duchesse style sweet potato puree all
topped with frizzled leeks in a mini cast iron pan. Rich and filling
the dish had hints of Italian pasta with vegetarian overtones that
would start to fill anyone on a cold winter's eve. Gina's TEA PUNCH is
her version of a drink from Sint Maarten made with fresh sugar cane,
bitters, rum, lime juice and packed a puckery bite that worked well to
balance the creamy rich dish.
As you can see this "special" is not a wine pairing, but a
mixmistress' genius at work. Her next "work" was CYTRAS SAKE made from
a new Polish vodka on our market called Cytras mixed with sake, lemon,
rosewater, lime and Cava sparkling wine. This drink had a subtle
flowery flavor (from the rosewater) and was perfect with
RED BULLET-kombu,guajillo, dashi,
a seared bonito flake encrusted sushi-top quality tuna that had a red
bullet rare center. A small salad on the side was made from kombu or
seaweed kelp which was like fried noodles with Hen of the Woods
mushrooms. A dashi lime broth was underneath with guajillo or little
rounds of chili gel on the side for flavor. This was one of my
favorite dishes of the evening, but also, one of the best tuna
presentations in town!

(hold your breath) was listed next on the menu alone and I asked, "for
how long?" It turned out to be a home made beef jerky that was spicy,
chewy and tasty and reminded me of the biltong I so adored in South
Africa (we asked to take some home as well, it was so yummy!)

PhO - noodle, thai basil, sprout
was indeed the traditional Asian noodle dish with rice noodles in a
duck broth with slices of tasty rare duck encrusted with coriander,
caraway, fennel and star anise. On top was a small slice of Foie Gras
Torchon with sherry. The dish was finished with soy sprouts and was
another wonderful modern take on a very traditional dish.
SOOOO...SAKE was the accompanying drink and I had stepped away from
the table to return to a tablefull of "can you guess what this is"
faces. Well, I knew there was sake, but had lots of trouble
deciphering the other flavors. I thought there was a yeasty champagne,
which turned out to be MILLER HIGH LIFE BEER! The other ingredients
were Cognac, Ginger, Lemon and of course, Sake.
It was actually a very refreshing drink, but I must admit pairing
anything with a broth soup is not easy.

TATONKA -rutabaga, mushroom, apple
was the BISON itself (from Gunpowder Farms, MD) seared to perfection
with a mushroom powder crust and apple gastrique. The dish was
accompanied by more of those divine frizzled leeks and wild mushrooms.
If you like bison, this was a dish to be reckoned with!
TOASTED SPICE PUNCH was the drink made from apple (picking up the
apple flavor from the dish) and bourbon as well as Navan (a vanilla
cognac), Madagascar vanilla, orange peel, toasted star anise and green
cardamom. As always, Gina manages to combine flavors to perfection
even to the point where I can not taste the anise as it all blends so
well.

AWWWW NUTS!
our first dessert was not at all what we expected....a chocolate
enrobed Hazelnut Mousse and lacquered swatch of crunchy chocolate
adorned the plate in a gorgeous presentation with caramelized sugar,
and a little dollop of whipped cream. The dish was rich, but not too
intense and we all devoured every bite.
As Gina is wont to make fun of many things, last night she chose
Starbucks (and the coffee bar biz in general) and her accompanying
warm drink was entitled
EFFIN STARBUCKS.
Steamed Frangelico milk was seasoned with Kojete Mexican cinnamon and
laced with Benedictine B&B. Give me this after dinner instead of
coffee and I might just give up lattes forever!

ONE MORE BITE...!
was one of Chef Peter's signature tasty DOMAINE de CANTON CHEESECAKE
Lollipops here decorated with Gold Leaf petals.
Gina paired it with SCORCHED MILK which was a chilled milk having been
scorched with Cardamom, Vanilla and powdered ginger laced with
Sauternes & Bourbon and touched off with Cinneamon & Fleur de Sel. It
was a nice farewell "glass of milk and lollipop" before we headed home
to bed.

By the way, it was celebrity night at PS7's and I would have had no
clue had someone told us (I'm not into sports) that New Orleans'
Saints' footballer REGGIE BUSH was just a couple of tables away.
Someone brought up this photo on their I-phone (click below)http://
concreteloop.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/rbush4.jpg and I still
didn't recognize him, but wished that he would take his shirt off!

Anyway, despite the lack of abs at our table, we had one of the
funnest and most delicious meals available in town!
ALAN